In the beginning

Here are a few shots of the first actual productive work in what is going to be an extended build.

I have spent a few months gathering parts, and now it is time to put some of them together.

Bare block is going to be used for mocking up the install, motor mounts, and such. Lot lighter in weight. I just need to keep in mind the clearances needed for the accessories.





The bellhousing makes a nice work stand, couple of boards to give input shaft clearance.





The Advanced adapter has multiple holes for "clocking" the xfr case, and the bottom set needs to have the two unused ones plugged or oil will leak out. A pair of set screws are provided to do so, but they are easy to run in too far, and that could bump into the counter shaft bearing. I staked the threads in the adapter with a center punch, and used blue "Locktite" on the plugs, as well as the stud inserted there.

Here is where the xfr case needs to be ground down a bit to make it clear the trans case.



And after grinding. I ended up needing to take off about half of the square head set screw also.



All together now. Furniture dolly makes for easy moving, this is getting pretty heavy.



More to come---------------->

 

Cool! Whats it going in? Sm420?

 

465.

Going into a 1960 hybrid----M38a1 body on a CJ5 chassis.

Chevy 4.3, 1995 for power.

Dana 30 with 3.73/powerlock and late model 44 flanged/powerlock. Disk/11"drum setup.

Probably stock or close to it in ride height, 32" tires.

Photos of Jeep are linked in the sticky.

 

WOW-----it has been over a year since I started this thread, must be time to update it.

I spent that year getting finished with a homebuilt airplane project, and now have gotten back on the Jeep --------finally.

In the interim I was able to gather up a couple of rear gas tanks, a stock M 38 under seat tank, a pair of axles, a running Chevy S10 to cannibalize, a windshield, seats, and a few other goodies I will be needing in the course of the build.

Got the body off a couple days ago, and am getting ready to pull the stock engine out.

Next will be to swap out the axles, and then on to the engine and tranny install.

Thanks for looking......

 

Thanks for the update! It has been awhile...Looking forward to more updates!

 

The engine is gone, axles both out, and now have the frame up on edge, so I can remove the unneeded stuff attached to the bottom. So far, the brake/clutch pedal assembly, and the steering bellcrank bracket are both gone, next is the draw bar bracing for the trailer hitch. I am going to be installing a rear tank, so these need to go away.

Here is a shot before the rear axle was removed.



When I acquired this Jeep, there were no seats with it, so I am going to have to either buy, or fab up some seat bases----I have aftermarket seats already, just need the bases.

I believe the bracket shown below is where the seat latch engages, and that there should also be a bump stop in there, anyone have a photo of this ----- maybe a shot where the seat is up a few inches, and both sides of the latching mechanism is clearly shown??



Thanks in advance.

 

More progress today.

I installed the rear tank in the frame, first step was to re-read Boyinks writeup one more time.

I started with just the skid pan, and found it needed a bit of trimming both front and back for clearance.

Here is the front corner where I had to take off a piece apx 3' by 1", to clear the bend in the crossmember.



And here is where a small bit was notched out for clearance at the rear.



I also had to clearance the lower flange of the stock bumper/cross member for clearance so the strap holding the tank in the skid pan.



The skid pan has a reinforcement at the rear upper, which has a small flange bent over, this created a "C" channel that was just about perfect to fit on the bumper/rear crossmember flange.



The channel was a bit too tight----remember, I said "just about perfect"-----so I opened it up a bit with a pair of seaming pliers.



Now the "C" channel in the tank skid pan fit on the bumper/rear crossmember just fine.



After I was happy with the fit of the skid pan, I used "C" clamps to hold it in place, and using a spring loaded center punch, I pilot drilled, and final drilled for mounting bolts.

Finished for today, took an hour or two, using the tools here, and a die grinder with a cutoff disk.



I will be welding nuts in the bumper/rear crossmember as per Boyinks recommendation.

When I cut out the diagonal brace for the draw bar hitch, I left plenty of material under the body mount plate, this will get trimmed a bit, and welded in better to help stabilize the body mount plate.

More to come, thanks for looking.

 

Looking good!

 

Update time.

Here is the engine for the Jeep, before I finally got it free from its previous home.



And here it is getting to know its new relatives. No formal introduction yet....



This mess is one of the things that kept me up at nights------trying to figure out which wires were necessary, and which could be pruned out of the harness.:?



The spring bushings were in sad shape, so I replaced all of them.





I used a bolt and some old pieces previously removed from the draw bar setup to install the new bushings-----piece of cake

Here you can see the bolt and stuff I used, also the spring eye has been wire brushed and lubed with spray lithium grease, and the new bushing also lubed.



Bushing going into its new home.



And fully home.





It took about an hour to do both ends of the two rear springs, 4 bushings in total. The hardest part is getting the old bushing shell out of the spring eye. I just sawed through one side of the shell, and used a center punch to deform the shell enough to get it loose.

 

That wiring looks like a nightmare! I'm sure you'll figure it all out. Looking good so far.

 

Thanks John, the wiring is really ugly now, due to the rather crude, but effective method I used during the dismantling stage.

What I did was identify unneeded stuff like heater and A/C wiring, cruise control wiring, radio wiring, ETC and remove it. I stripped all the wrapping and loom material off, and got out the wire cutters.

Slow, tedious, but when it is all over the only stuff left is what runs the fuel injection, and distributor ETC.

At least that was the plan when I started.................

 

Progress report

Well, time to update the progress of my build.

After spending way too much money on "U" bolts and hardware, the axles are now in.





The engine and the tranny got married up, and are ready for fitting into the frame.



Right off the bat there was a problem------looks like the factory exhaust is not going to work----OH WELL, they were cracked anyway.....





Say "Aww"





This is the clearance using the stock cross member location, will need a bit of work to fit radiator, but gives me about an inch (estimated) of firewall clearance. And, the stock drive shafts will fit----------YES, I know, dont base the engine location solely on the drive shafts.

 

Progress report part 2

The cross member seems to be from a different model than I have, it is about 1/2" to 3/4" too wide, and it puts the tranny too far to the right/passenger side.



As can be seen, the edge of the rubber pad is only a little way from the frame rail. Those are 9/16" bolt heads for a scale to compare.



There is a ton of room on the left side of the tranny, plenty of room to move things over.



As can be seen the tranny is almost exactly centered in the frame, everything I have read here says it should be an inch or so to the left.



As it stands now, I have tried moving the engine back, but the firewall is going to be a problem if I do, so it is back forward again, looks like the radiator is going to have to be a custom installation.

As things stand ----or hang----as of now.



More to come...................

 

I had a 4 banger grill when I put my V6 in and I didn't have clearance for the fan. I cut a section out of the grill extension that the radiator bolts to and spot welded it back together. Picked up about 2" It actually went back together pretty nice.

 

Progress report time.

Got the engine location figured out well enough to satisfy myself, and went to work making motor mounts.

I am using stock Chevy side mounts, and fabbed up a set of frame mounts to fit them.

I used some 1" o.d. 1/4" wall tubing and some 1" x 3" rectangular stock for the mounts, also a bit of angle to set it on the frame.





I will bolt the angle to the frame later, for now a "C" clamp will suffice.

The rear mount is a nightmare of fabrication, I had a stock cross member that appears to be from something other than the frame I have. It put the tranny centered in the frame, and I wanted it 1" to the left. So I cut off the ends of the crossmember, one side an inch longer than the other, swapped ends, and welded it all back together.

Next was to address the issue of mounting the Advance Adapters isolator setup------I ended up cutting windows in the crossmember, and fabbing up some shelves out of 3/16" stock, and welding them into the cross member. I had to cut a valley in the crossmember for clearance for the reinforcement ribs on the SM 465, and here you can see the material I am closing the valley out with.



In this close up, you can see the windows in the cross member, and that the 3/16" stock goes through to the front of the hat section of the crossmember. I figured it would be a bit stronger that way, and besides, I had to remove some of the crossmember stock for the isolator to fit.



My welding helmet broke soon as I got this far, so will have to finish up later------I still need to cut off excess materiel, weld, grind and paint the unit.

Not shown, is reinforcement on the bottom, try to regain back some of the strength lost by cutting into the hat section.

Thanks for looking

 

Looks like you are getting everything figured out. Don't ya just love a challenge?

 

I finally had a chance to get back on the Jeep build, first off was to finish welding/grinding on the tranny Xmember, then to install it.

IT FITS!!!

Next was putting the body back in place just to confirm all of the misc parts and pieces will play nicely together.

Yep, firewall clearance is fine, floorboard clearance is fine, and so is master cylinder clearance.

O.K., body back off, (my poor aching back) and now to finalize the motor mounts.

I welded a diagonal brace under the arm of the mount, did a bit of grinding, and hit it with POR 15.





After the paint dries, it will be time to weld the mount to the frame, thus I will be sure that the location is where it needs to be.

Ditto for the left side.

After that, it is time to take the engine back out, strip out the suspension, and clean the frame in preparation for a coat of POR 15.

Then the actual final assembly can begin.